Chimera

2022-10-27T20:35:13Z

2A01:CB00:6B:A00:8893:2E7B:9465:973: /* Monstergirls */

''If you were looking for the 40k vehicle, see [[Chimera Transport]]''

[[File:Chimera statue.png|right|300px]]
The '''Chimera''' is a monster from Greco-Roman mythology, described as a tripartite fire-breathing beast with the forequarters and head of a lion, the hindquarters and head of a goat, and the tail and head of a snake. Exactly how that works out depends on the artist; perhaps the most iconic of real-world art depicts it as having a lion's head on its neck, a goat's head [[what|growing straight up out of the middle of its back]], and the snake's head replacing the tip of its tail. What doesn't vary, strangely enough, is that even though the original Chimera was female, it ''always'' has a mane (beard) on the lion, even in period art depicting it as a unique creature. It ravaged the land with its fiery breath until Bellerophon killed it by using [[Pegasus]] to fly out of range of the fire whilst carrying a lance with a big block of lead on its tip; [[awesome|he threw this at its mouth and the flames melted the lead so it poured down Chimera's throat and killed it]]. In the centuries since, the word chimera has gained a second more broad meaning, referring to any sort of weird mishmash between two or more different things Frankensteined together.

==In Fantasy Gaming==
Chimeras show up in a lot of fantasy games. Thanks to D&D, pretty much all incarnations have the three heads sharing the same neck stump, a dragon head instead of a snake head, and a pair of wings giving it flight! (TSR really liked [[Manticore|adding wings to lion-based creatures]]), despite the fact that the original Chimera was landlocked and this played a huge role in its defeat.

They are particularly prominent in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] (and thusly [[Pathfinder]]), where they are capable of speech, but usually not very bright. All the ego of a Red [[Dragon]] and none of the brains, essentially. The unique awnsheigh in [[Birthright]], the Chimera, is essentially a were-creature, a half-elf who sometimes explodes into a hideous and ever-shifting monster form that goes on feral rampages.

Chimeras also appear in [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and [[Age of Sigmar]], where they are creatures of [[Chaos]] and so usually show up as mounts for the Chaos Lords.

<gallery>
Chimera ODD5.png|Original D&D
Chimera 1e.jpg|1e
Chimera MCV1.jpg|2e
Chimera MM 2e.png
Chimera 3e.jpg|3e
Chimera 4e.jpg|4e
Chimera 5e.jpg|5e
Chimera B1.png|Pathfinder
Chimera DF Monsters 2.png|GURPS
</gallery>

==Star Wars==
The Chimaera was introduced as Thrawn's flagship in ''Heir to the Empire'' and would quickly become one of the most prominent ships in the EU. This is despite it being a mere Imperial II class when many other Imperial warlords had Super Star Destroyers or some manner of super weapon. The Chimaera had a cloaking device... which was deemed useless without an allied force user because you can't see where you're going when cloaked without the force and all non-force base communications were blocked.

''[[Star Wars]]'' doesn't have Greek mythology, so fans assumed it referred to ''[[Wikipedia:Chimera (genetics)|genetic]]'' Chimeras or, at least, some mad science hybrid beast since ''[[Star Wars]]'' has genetics advanced enough to produce human clones.

== Monstergirls ==

[[File:MGE Chimaera.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Well, what did ''you'' think a cross between a [[catgirl]], a [[dragon]]girl and a [[satyr]]ess might look like?]]
{{Monstergirls}}
Chimera [[monstergirls]] are a rare breed, mostly because designers struggle with how to incorporate the three heads and tripartite body into one design.

In the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]], the "Chimaera" belongs to the small family of "Demon Beasts", and has the form of a lion-girl with goat's horns and legs, a serpent for a tail, a leonic paw for a right arm, a draconic paw for a left arm, and [[Pauldrons|pauldrons]] reminiscent of a goat's and a dragon's heads. Extremely powerful and destructive, it has a bad case of split personalities, with one persona for each of the four beasts that work as a team to support her in her goal of finding and keeping a lover.

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]]

[[Category: Monsters]]

[[Category: Greek Mythology]]

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Chimera